SAFE STREETS BURLINGTON

Sunday, September 23, 2018

How roundabouts in hurricane/floods in the Carolinas came to the rescue in Wilmington, NC when the the electricity went out. How a creative traffic control officer—not an engineer--became a roundabout designer and cut one queue from five miles to about a half mile (about 1250 cars to 125 cars).

Text from North Carolina roundabout engineer Jim Dunlop, P.E., North Carolina Department of Transportation writing in the Roundabout Research listserv this week:

I thought it was the Wilmington traffic engineer. Turns out it was a traffic enforcement officer from Wilmington. He set up his patrol car in the middle of the intersection, to warn drivers to that the signal was out. He then put a circle of cones around his vehicle to hopefully protect it. After a while, he realized that drivers were treating it essentially as a roundabout. So he set up lane closures to bring it to a single lane (with a right turn bypass!) The aforementioned traffic engineer then took the idea and modified it a few times to make it work better. They implemented it at two other intersections. One of those had about a five mile backup which became about a ½ mile queue after the temp roundabout was implemented.

Friday, September 7, 2018

A
FUN WAY TO LEARN FIRST HAND ABOUT THE FIGHT FOR A NEW CHAMPLAIN
PARKWAY COMMUNITY DRIVEN DESIGN!

TAKE THE

ROAD
TO NOWHERE WALK TOUR

OR

ROAD
TO NOWHERE BIKE TOUR

Both
10 a.m. Saturday, September 15 (September 22 rain date) start at
bottom of Pine Street at the unfinished Parkway – unlimited free
parking at adjacent park-and-ride. The roundtrip 1.5 mile has a
halfway stop for refreshments at City Market South End and ends back
at Pine Street about noon. Walk or bike, choose your group!

Tour
features Include

See
first hand how Pine Street corridor gets severed by the Parkway

Find
why walk and bike groups oppose the Parkway from lack of separate and
safe walk and bike facilities

Learn
how a single highly safe roundabout can serve as a safe-for-all City
Market and Petra Cliffs gateway

Discover
one street instead one from Home to Flynn Avenue just common sense

The
Coalition detailed numerous changes in laws and policies, traffic and
demographics,

and
on-the-ground development since the 2009 environmental document. The

Coalition's
challenge documents totaled over 240 pages. The Coalition calls for
a “cheaper,

greener,
quicker, and highly safe roadway with savings of up to $8 million!”

The Parkway purpose now,
speeding cars between I 189 and downtown, belongs to the car

centric
1960s not the multi-modal world of today, the Coalition states.

The
Coalition will likely challenge the project in federal courts should
a new design process

and
Environmental Impact Statement (E.I.S.) process is not begun by the
VTrans, FHWA

and
the City. The last Parkway public hearing dates from 2006
and official environmentaldocument
2009. FHWA and VTrans in response the Coalition April filing communicated
they will take the Coalition submission into consideration when

making
the next required decision on whether the current design goes
forward.

The
Coalition condemns the Parkway project for among other reasons: (1)
the

six
new unsafe traffic signals causing an estimated eight additional
injuries a year to

residents
and visitors over current best practice, roundabouts; (2)
permanently

severing
the Pine Street corridor short of Queen City Park Road, one of only
two

South
End north-south routes; (3) interfering with or blocking current GMT
transit

vehicle
routings and central facility access; (4) negative impacts on the low
income

Maple/King
Streets neighborhood in violation of environmental justice
regulations; (5) lack
of safe and separate walk and bike facilities in the corridor; (6)
building an

excess
1.5 lane miles of asphalt roadway consuming about eight acres of land
betteremployed
for economic development, open space and protecting stressed Englesby Brook;
(7) wasting tens of thousands of gallons of gasoline and excessive
climate change
pollutants annually; (8) wasting up to $8 million in scarce
transportation funds;
(9) serious water related issues involving undetected wetlands and
expired wetland
permits; and (10) inconsistencies or violations of the Parkway design
and documents
with new laws, policies and plans at federal, state, region and City
levels since
the 2009 ruling project documents.

Thursday, July 26, 2018

Pine Street Coalition appeal of lack of notification of some property owners and those affected in Parkway land takings by the City of Burlington in a May 21 Necessity Hearing and site visits. Both the Coalition and Burlington Fortieth, LLC, owner of Innovation Center, filed separate appeals and first status hearing occurs Wednesday, August 8 at 10:30 a.m. at Chittenden Superior Court, 175 Main St., Burlington

Editor’s note: This commentary is by Tony Redington, of
Burlington, for the Pine Street Coalition LC3. He is a transportation
policy development and research specialist. Turns out the Champlain Parkway goes back to court Aug. 8 with two opposition groups — the Pine Street Coalition
and Burlington Fortieth LLC, which owns Innovation Center — appealing
property takings by the city of Burlington over claiming lack of
notification of some property owners and others affected.

The grassroots Pine Street Coalition and Fortieth Burlington filed separate appeals.
The
Pine Street Coalition appeal follows its challenge a few weeks ago to
the city, the Vermont Agency of Transportation, and the Federal Highway
Administration to stop the shoddy project now because of changes in laws
and policies since the 2009 now stale and invalid environmental
document. The coalition backs its challenge with 240+ page documents
set. The coalition seeks a cheaper, new generation approach that meets
the business and community needs of the South End neighborhoods. The
stated purpose of speeding cars between I-189 and downtown belongs to
the car-centric 1960s, not the multi-modal world of today.

The 2.3
mile project’s fatal flaws stem from laws, policies and new technology
adopted since the last public hearing in 2006 and an environmental
document filing in 2009. This decade, the South End emerged as the most
exciting and vibrant area of Burlington, bursting with new development,
generator spaces, eateries, a technology enclave, small businesses, an
expanding artist and artisan neighborhood, and major anchor
installations led by the City Market Co-op South End with 100+ jobs and
Champlain College’s Miller Center education and cybersecurity venture
with 70 jobs.
The surge this decade in highway fatalities, led by
pedestrians and bicyclists, compares to the absence of any safety
consideration in the parkway, counter to the 2012 Vermont Complete
Streets Law and federal statutes as well as several city plans since.
The coalition predicts increased intersections injuries. Other major
areas dismissed or ignored in the parkway runup: climate change
emissions, impacts on the low income Maple-King street neighborhood,
gasoline use, separate and safe pedestrian and bicycle travelways and
encroachment on open space and the stressed Englesby Brook, and blocking
transit terminal facilities access and routes.

The two most
obvious wasteful and hurtful parkway elements: two streets between Home
and Flynn avenues instead of one quality and the severing of one of the
only two north-south corridors in the South End by dead ending Pine
Street short of Queen City Park Road, which forces South Enders onto
Shelburne Road to travel to Hannaford, Lowe’s or the Palace theater. The
Burlington Walk Bike Council in detailed letters to the city cited
unsatisfactory walk and bike facilities and in 2016 endorsed the
coalition’s parkway Redesign Guidelines.

Yes, technology and best
practices for street design changed radically this decade on busy
streets which now include roundabout intersections (90 percent reduction
in serious or fatal injuries – advocated by AARP, Geico, AAA, the
Federal Highway Administration and VTrans draft development guidelines)
and cycle track (protected bike lanes). Bicycles and pedestrians now
require separate and safe travelways — a parkway defect easily remedied
in a new design.
The coalition calls for a cheaper (about $8
million cheaper), greener, quicker and (much) safer parkway design done
through a democratic process. After four decades of studies and still
invalid design, “let’s do it right the first time” by shaping a parkway
the city can love!

Monday, June 18, 2018

You can help stop the Champlain Parkway and ensure starting a Community Re-design!Two steps you can take to make a difference!Join together and take action for safe streets in our South End, saveup to $8 million, reduce delay for all, help the environment andbusiness!! (Cheaper, greener, quicker and much safer!) The PineStreet Coalition needs both community support and the dollars to carryforward legal efforts.1. Please sign the petition to join the grassroots Pine StreetCoalition fight to stop the Parkway and start a new citizen-drivendesign:

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Making
the move to demand a new public design process for the Champlain
Parkway the Pine Street Coalition filing of a package of over 200+
pages April 3 to City, State and Federal Highway officials along with
the news conference can be found here

in
the last decade require safety first,” says Tony Redington, leader
of the Pine Street

Coalition
and retired Vermont and New Hampshire transportation planner.
“Roadway

elements
like roundabouts, which reduce serious accidents by 90%, and
dedicated cycle tracks which make biking a safe, environmentally
sound transportation option, are not part the Champlain Parkway’s
outdated design. Failure to re-evaluate the Parkway in light of
current knowledge and law about highway safety will, quite simply,
costs lives.”

Since the last
public hearing on the Parkway in 2006, Burlington’s South End has

become
one of Burlington’s most vibrant communities, filled with
restaurants, breweries,

new
housing, shops, and a growing technology enclave and new incubator
spaces. “The

Parkway
design fails because it does not take into consideration today’s
realities,” says

Steve
Goodkind, Burlington’s former Public Works Director who has joined
the Pine Street

Coalition’s
efforts. “The Parkway would cut off the Pine Street corridor, and
prevent planned future development in the City’s Enterprise Zone,”
Goodkind added.

The Parkway
would also bisect the Maple-King Street neighborhood, which is one of

Burlington’s
poorest and most diverse communities. “Federal laws adopted in the
last ten

years
require environmental justice review to ensure that the voices of
affected residents

are
heard in the planning process,” says South End resident and
community development

expert
Dr. Charles Simpson. The Pine Street Coalition cites a lack of
agency outreach, as well as an absence of aesthetic and noise impact
analysis in the Maple-King Street community.

The South End
2.3 mile Parkway costing an estimated $43.1 million remains a vestige

of
the four-lane roadway thinking of the 1960s. The plan for a
Burlington ring road now

long
abandoned included the Parkway super highway rammed through the
waterfront

and
Old North End.

If the Federal
and State agencies do not re-open the environmental review process

within
90 days, the Pine Street Coalition says it will file action in
federal court this summer.

Parkway Redesign Guideline and & Rethinking

CHAMPLAIN PARKWAY REDESIGN GUIDELINES Let's Do it Right June 2018

The Champlain Parkway Redesign Guidelines (Guidelines) arise from public many South End community and City groups discussions. The Guidelines shape a safe and complete street concept. Ultimately a new Parkway design happens through a thorough, informed, public discussion of today's needs. The Parkway dates from 1960s, the current design from a decade ago--plans do evolve over time! The Guidelines call for:

Cutting 1.5 mile lane miles of roadway

Conserving four acres between Flynn and Lakeside Avenues, about two for economic development of the “Gilbane” parking property and two for protection and improving Englesby Brook

Employing roundabout technology throughout to avoid dozens of crashes and injuries to the traveling public, and reducing intersection gas use and pollutants including global warming by about a third

Attaining about $12 million cost savings, one quarter of the $43 million project

Retaining connectivity and enable improved bus services as well as future light rail

Offering better, safe access to City Market South End and Petra Cliffs

Allowing some savings invested in lower Pine Street and Flynn Avenue for sidewalks

Fostering a livable and sustainable South End so critical to both quality of life and new vibrancy of the neighborhoods--as well as the arts, education, and business economies

Champlain Redesign Guidelines feature:

Reversing dead-ending of Pine Street at the Parkway Current design dead-ending worsens the nearby single-lane bridge, cuts Queen City Park road access and linkages to the Industrial Avenue and South Burlington points.

The I 189 segment for years used for commuter parking, children bike riding and dog walks Some can be retained as a two-lane road allows a linear transit or park 'n ride facility.

From Home Ave. to Flynn Ave. the Parkway converted from two segregated streets, becoming a single, quality and safe “complete street.” Melding Briggs and Batchelder into a single street with full connectivity possible for City Market and Petra Cliffs (no vehicle access to Morse, Lyman and Ferguson).

The “Parkway” ends at Flynn Ave. The original “Purpose and Need” to speed traffic downtown no longer serves the City or is possible with moving the railyard abandoned. The objective of shifting trucks off local streets to the industrial areas still occurs.

The natural areas of Englesby Brook now preserved and two acres of prime development land at Glbane recovered for businesses and associated jobs. The Gilbane property and Innovation Center now become an overall “Lakeside Innovation Zone.” Guidelines affirm the value of the energy and industrial innovation enclave which mark the area from its earliest days. This “innovation enclave” engages with the City's food hub and energy production as a common goal.

Stormwater infiltration Mechanisms for stormwater include rain gardens, soils remediation and open space protection on the Barge Canal as an ongoing remediation site.

Pine Street to Main Street With Bicycle Connections: The Tuning Fork Separate from the Parkway project, the Railyard may allow a one way street design west from Curtis Lumber to South Champlain, north to Main Street then return down Pine Street—this allows the addition of a low-stress bike circulation and connector to the Burlington Bikepath.

The Southern Connector Project is one piece of a larger transportation plan for Chittenden County that was formulated over 40 years ago. It consisted of a network of highways that would encircle the county through Burlington, South Burlington, Williston, Winooski, Essex and Colchester. Parts of it included existing state highways and the interstate. There were also proposed new roads i.e. the Northern and Southern Connectors and the Circumfential Highway.

These proposed new roads share many common characteristics. They were to be for the most part limited access routes that would take traffic from existing local roads and reassign it to these new segments. But just as importantly, they all contained a huge conceptual flaw by relying on the perceived benefits of the ring road concept. .

We have learned a lot in the transportation field in recent decades and it is now widely recognized that it is generally better to improve our existing system to make it safer and more usable to all modes of transportation, than to build new

roads. We have also grown to appreciate the benefits of neighborhood connections that are not separated by manmade barriers such as limited access highways or large development projects. (The Burlington Town Center is an example of the latter case).

As a result, only portions of the original plan have been constructed. They are the three “bypass segments”, including the so-called “road to nowhere” in Burlington. The ring road concept is essentially dead.

However, the old concept does live on in at least one project. The Southern Connector, especially the piece from Home Ave. to Lakeside, is a classic example of old thinking, the benefits of which are far outweighed by the negative aspects it delivers. Because the latest version of this project dumps its supposed

reassigned traffic right back onto Pine Street without a connection to Battery Street, it fails to provide any significant transportation benefit that could not be achieved by simply opening the “road to nowhere”. The current plan eliminates

existing neighborhood connections and removes the connection of Pine St. to Queen City Park Road. A better name for it might be the “Southern Disconnector”. It is a costly and unnecessary relic of the past. This is further compounded by a design for the Pine St segment that is not up to the standards that Burlington has set for “complete streets”. Even our Public Works Director has acknowledged this when he recently said, “if we were designing this project today it would not look like this.”

If we hope to be a 21st century city, we need transportation projects that have designs that reflect 21st century thinking, not 20th century throwbacks.

The Mayor and his associates say they have done their best and it is too late for that. If we don’t proceed, we will have to pay back $7 or 8 million to the federal and/or State governments. This may be a possibility, but making the city payback money for a project that has been significantly changed, (notice I did not say cancelled), is unprecedented in Vermont. Here are some examples:

1) At the last minute the Northern Connector Project was modified to end at Manhattan Drive rather than at Battery and Pearl. This was to avoid destroying a good part of the Old North End.

2) The Circ Highway has been substantially redesigned to use existing routes and much of the originally proposed design will never be used

3) About 25 years ago, governor Dean stopped the construction of the Southern Connector from Home to Lakeside because of the uncertainty that a connection to Battery Street could be built.

4) Even though ROW had been secured and some railroad facilities and the DPW offices in its’ path have been relocated, the Southern Connector route from Lakeside to Battery through the Barge Canal was abandoned.

5) The “road to nowhere” was constructed 30 years ago but never completed and never maintained.

6) In the 1980’s, South Burlington decided not to participate in a segment of the Southern Connector that would have been in their community.

In none of these cases were the communities asked to repay the money they had spent on the project. There has never been and there should never be a penalty for making a project better and/or less expensive. History in this case is clearly

on the side of RETHINKING, REIMAGINING AND REDESIGNING the Southern Connector. It is the smart thing to do! It is not too late!